This is undoubtedly the year of the unicorn.
Crunchbase counts 38 companies joining this prestigious club in September alone, bringing the total for the year to 311. As a result, 2026 is on track to see the second-most new unicorns created. In 2021, the number exceeded 600 companies.
Of September’s 38 new unicorns, 21 are U.S.-based. Hedge funds or their venture capital arms participated in seven of the financings and were also investors in earlier financing rounds.
Various entities of Tiger Cub Maverick Capital were the most active in September. They were involved in four of the seven financings that had hedge fund firms among the participants.
For example, Maverick Silicon and Duquesne Family Office, Stan Druckenmiller’s family office, participated in the $500 million Series A financing of semiconductor manufacturer Fab2, formerly Atomic Semi, valuing the company at $3.7 billion.
Maverick Silicon is one of two VC arms of Maverick focusing on private companies. It specializes in those designing or producing chips, hardware, software, or processes that “solve the seemingly insatiable demand for compute,” according to its website.
Maverick Silicon was also involved in the $275 million Series C funding of Celero Communications, which develops advanced coherent DSP technology for AI infrastructure. The financing valued the company at more than $3 billion. This was the third round Maverick Silicon participated in for the company.
And in September, it led a $165 million Series C financing of Lyte AI, valuing the company at $1.6 billion. Lyte designs custom silicon, multimodal sensors, and spatial software that robots use to sense where they are and what is moving around them.
Both Maverick Capital and Point72 Asset Management participated in the $150 million Series C financing of SiMa.ai, a leader in physical AI. The round valued the company at $1.45 billion. This was the third SiMa.ai funding Maverick has participated in and the second for Point72. Adage Capital Management and Jericho Capital Asset Management invested in earlier financings.
Elsewhere, Pershing Square, the Ackman Oxman Institute, and an undisclosed life sciences investment fund co-led an oversubscribed $250 million Series D financing round of Precision Neuroscience, a brain–computer interface technology company. Duquesne Family Office also participated for the second time. According to Crunchbase, the financing valued the company at about $1 billion, though Precision Neuroscience did not disclose a valuation in its press release.
Tiger Global Management, meanwhile, participated in the $300 million Series B financing round of Gimlet Labs, an AI cloud infrastructure company, at a $3 billion valuation.
And CADDi, which develops an AI data platform for manufacturers, says it has entered into definitive agreements for $114 million at a $1.2 billion valuation in Series D funding. Louis Bacon’s Moore Strategic Ventures was one of the participants.
